I’m never sure whether the year ending with 0 is the end of the decade or the start of the next. I remember the millennium, when we were partying in 1999 and then people said the millennium did not technically end until New Year in 2000. So I guess this makes 2020 the end of the decade, and the end of an era. What will that be in the annuls of history? Age of Austerity? The Giant Meh? At 11pm tonight the UK leaves the European Union. That will probably be the lasting legacy of the decade.
Having blogged for fifteen years, I get the opportunity to scroll back and see what was happening on some of those other years. Last year I was deliberately non-committal about setting any goals having had The Confusion of Tongues drifting on for so long, so it was great to share it with the world earlier this year after a special session with Raindance Lockdown Sessions. I am happy to say, that like last year, I managed to read over 50 books and 100 movies again. Lockdown meant it was probably a record for books that won’t be broken until I break a leg or something – 63 with an average page count of 284 according to Goodreads. I’m not bragging or deeming it important, but I have found that making myself accountable for listing the books on this blog means that I do actually read stuff beyond surfing the internet. The books that I enjoyed reading most this year were Art and Fear, The Book of Learning and Forgetting, and Factfulness. I saw fewer movies this year than last (170 compared to 185), which is surprising considering lockdown. I’m not sure why this is. Still, I’m happy with it. My faves this year: My Octopus Teacher, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, Parasite. For those who may be reading this and thinking that counting such shit is a sad existence, I agree, but believe that you reading my blog about my watching this is even sadder! Ha ha.
My blog in December in 2018 was the first post in four years, which outlined the logic behind the lists, and I am still very much in that groove. I actually counted the number of days that I had alcohol in 2020 too (97), which I hope to reduce incrementally in the coming years. Personally I find this easier to achieve that just stopping all together, which I have tried in the past and found that it was tricky in social life etc.
Fifteen years ago I was living in Dublin and travelled back to finish Peppermint. Ten years ago I spent Christmas and New Year in Australia. I was just finishing off The Ballad of Des and Mo. I don’t think I was making a projection of where I was going to be in 2020 at that point, but I know I would like to have directed more movies. This is certainly an ambition for the next ten years.
Personal predictions for the next year: a film, a book and some music? I don’t want to commit to the length of any of those projects, just that they exist. I imagine I will be balder and struggling to cope with life in my forties (eek – I hit that milestone in February). I’d like to travel to at least one new country, but Covid may put a stop to that ambition.
Personal predictions for the next ten years: hopefully at least three more features made and plenty of music. I’d like to have reduced my teaching contract even further (3 days a week??) Hopefully still happily married. Jaffa will be 15 in ten years, which is not impossible. Bee and I already live in fear of losing parents, so I don’t want to speculate on that here.
Wider predictions for the planet in the next ten years? I believe we’ll be facing increasing climate challenges and the side effects that come with such disruptions. I believe we’ll have seen either closures or mergers of universities in the UK sector – possibly even more radical reform. I believe that the Brexit argument will have dulled but be ever present. I don’t believe we’ll re-enter the EU in the next ten years, primarily because I think the EU will be reluctant to invite that on themselves. It is more likely that the UK either loses Scotland altogether or there is greater devolvement. I don’t believe that cinemas will die with the pandemic but I do think they’ll be revisited in terms of being an entertainment destination. Someone probably said ten years ago that we’d be sick of superhero movies by 2020, but here we are.
READ: The World Until Yesterday– Jared Diamond, For The Love of Money – Bill Whiting, Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert, The Book of Learning and Forgetting– Frank Smith
WATCHED: Close Encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond, Beautiful Losers, Out of Print, Anchorman 2, Charlie Wilson’s War, Tinker-Tailor-Soldier-Spy, Bad Lieutenant, My Octopus Teacher, Rebecca, Moana, Singin’ in the Rain, Phantom Thread, Hara-Kiri, Joker
